But the practical result is that the Café
Metropole Club has been a rare Parisian non-smoking area
for the duration of its meetings on Thursday
afternoons.

I am not trying to suggest non-smokers may be more
welcome than confirmed addicts of the evil weed. If really
desperate, there is a lot of café La Corona left to
smoke in without going outside and standing in the rain. It
even has a 'tabac,' so you don't even have to bring
anything.

Remember, this is the club that abolishes rules and has
'no governor.' It does have its 'Ed' but you don't have to
talk to him either. Last Thursday, in true Parisian custom,
everybody talked to everybody else all at the same
time.

For this reason my notes are somewhat
abstract. You can read them for what they are but if you
are dead-set against doing this, well, forget it then.

La Corona has a small 'salle' just off the bar and a
large 'salle' behind the bar. There is a small terrace on
the Rue de l'Amiral Coligny side, which faces west; and a
big terrace on the Quai de Louvre side, which faces south.
The club meetings are at the rear of the big
'salle.'

About the Café Metropole Club

The 'Club's' purpose is to offer an opportunity for all
readers to meet each other and me, the 'Ed' of this online
weekly magazine about Paris. Together, we will have an
opportunity to transfer from the 'virtual' of the online
magazine to the 'real' of Paris.

However, as of right now 'virtual' membership is not
only permitted, but encouraged. It is no longer necessary
to be in Paris in person if you wish to do this.

For my part, I am going to try to answer any questions
you may have. Do not be surprised if for every question you
ask me, I ask you one. Do not be surprised if I ask for
your permission to take your photo and run it in Metropole
Paris, along with my version of your story. This part is
not compulsory; a simple 'no thanks' will be sufficient to
maintain your privacy.

For readers who are unable to attend 'Club' sessions, do
not be surprised to see accounts of these encounters appear
in Metropole Paris. The magazine's normal weekly edition
will continue to appear as usual on Mondays, but the weekly
'Club' meeting 'report' will be added as an update to it on
Thursdays.

The Café Metropole Club's
Boilerplate Cop-Out

I will be in the 'Club' at 15:00 every Thursday. With
Paris being the way it is, please take into account the
usual unreliable fates - if you look out of a window and
see the Seine flooding all the way up to Montmartre, there
will probably be no club meeting, if the day happens to be
a Thursday.

The Café Metropole Club has no 'dues' in the form
of cash in any sort of currency, cheques or any kind of
plastic. Therefore everything you consume at the club is
your responsibility. There will be no pressure to consume
anything. If you prefer not to, nobody is going to notice
except possibly our waiter, who earns his livelihood at La
Corona.

Club meetings will officially end at 17:00, which will
release all of us from these humble formalities.

In theory, I have to return to the editorial kitchen
table of the magazine to prepare an account of the day's
meeting for immediate online publication.

In practice, if nobody shows up, I will sit around
reading Le Parisien until I fall asleep or until 17:00. If
nobody has still not shown up, I will make up an entirely
fictional account of the meeting that will make you curse
missing the meeting of a lifetime.

More Café
Metropole Club Boilerplate:

At the moment 'exclusive club services' still amount to
none. But this is your club as much as it is
mine; so I expect there will be suggestions for services.
If these are possible to implement then they will become
available.

We are starting out with two 'suggestions' but otherwise
everything else is a blank. Together we will make up the
transitory details of the 'Club' and together we will see
what becomes of it.

At left, Ed's mugshot. If I'm
asleep when you arrive, drop an ashtray on the floor.

Last week I re-wrote that Groucho Marx said he wouldn't
join a club that would have him as a member. In fact,
Groucho Marx is dead and this class of people cannot even
become 'virtual' members. The only 'live' person required
to attend this club's meetings is the 'Ed' who is really
me. If you want to avoid Ed, or me, you now know where not
to go in Paris next Thursday.